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Senator Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has urged House Republicans to initiate impeachment proceedings against James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. This call to action follows a decision by a federal appeals court to pause Boasberg’s contempt inquiry into officials from the Trump administration.
Schmitt, a vocal supporter of the Trump administration’s stringent deportation measures, accuses Boasberg of judicial overreach. He is pressing for impeachment despite acknowledging that achieving the 67 Senate votes necessary for Boasberg’s removal remains unlikely.
Expressing his frustration, Schmitt criticized Boasberg’s attempts to hold Trump administration figures, including former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in criminal contempt for ignoring his directive to cease deportation flights to El Salvador.
“The D.C. Circuit has deemed Boasberg’s contempt pursuit against Trump officials as an ‘improper investigation’ and a ‘clear abuse of discretion.’ He sought to imprison Trump officials for deporting Venezuelan gang members. I urge the House: Impeach Rogue Judge Boasberg,” Schmitt declared on X, the social media platform.
Schmitt’s demand for Boasberg’s impeachment follows the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2-1 decision on Tuesday, which halted Boasberg’s investigation into whether Trump administration officials had breached his order by deporting individuals to El Salvador without allowing them the opportunity to contest their deportation orders.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accused Boasberg of targeting Justice Department attorneys.
“Today’s decision by the DC Circuit should finally end Judge Boasberg’s year-long campaign against the hardworking department attorneys doing their jobs fighting illegal immigration,” Blanche said in a statement responding to the court’s decision.
The federal appeals court ruled Boasberg was conducting an “improper investigation” that Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, warned could become “an open-ended, freewheeling inquiry into executive branch decision-making on matters of national security” that could have broad ramifications for military and diplomatic initiatives.
But the decision was accompanied by a fiery dissent from Judge J. Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee, who argued that the ruling could undermine judicial authority.
“Contempt of court is a public offense, and the fate of our democratic republic will depend on whether we treat it as such,” Childs wrote. “In the many forms in which it can be committed, contempt degrades the power that the people, through their Constitution and Congress, gave the federal courts.
“Without the contempt power, the rule of law is an illusion, a theory that stands upon shifting sands,” she wrote.